ves and served as speaker. As spokesman of Western expansionist interests and leader of the war hawks, Clay stirred up enthusiasm for war with Great Britain and helped bring on the War of 1812. He resigned from Congress to aid in the peace negotiations leading to the Treaty of Ghent. He again served in the House, again was speaker, and began to formulate his American system, a national program that ultimately included federal aid for internal improvements and tariff protection of American industries. In 1821, Clay, to pacify sectional interests, pushed the Missouri Compromise through the House. In the House for the last time, he once more became speaker, and he did much to augment the powers of that office. In this session he secured the western extension of the National Road and, against much opposition, eloquently carried through the Tariff of 1824. As Secretary of State, he secured congressional approvalwhich came too late for the American delegates to attendof U.S. participation in the Pan American Congress of 1826. Working, even at the cost of his own protectionist views, toward a compromise with the John C. Calhoun faction, he helped to promote the Compromise Tariff of 1833. He reentered the Senate when the country faced the slavery question in the territory newly acquired following the Mexican War. Clay denounced the extremists in both North and South, asserted the superior claims of the Union, and was chiefly instrumental in shaping the Compromise of 1850. It was the third time that he saved the Union in a crisis, and thus he has been called the Great Pacificator and the Great Compromiser.Andrew Jackson had appeal for the farmer, for the artisan, and for the small-business owner; he was viewed with suspicion and fear by people of established position, who considered him a dangerous upstart. By the time of the election of 1828, Jackson's cause was more assured. The result was a sweeping victory; Jackson polled four times the...
